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John Singleton Copley Portrait
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| Limited Edition:
2 Banners |
| Availability: Only 2 left! |
| Price:
$479 |
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| Museum:
Saint Louis Art Museum |
| Exhibition:
Saint Louis Art Museum Permanent Collections |
| Material:
Printed 2-ply vinyl |
| Dimensions:
L: 84 " (213 cm) : W:30 "
(76 cm) |
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Description:
This banner features a detail of John Singleton Copley’s portrait of Thaddeus Burr, an American Revolutionary figure and first cousin of Aaron Burr, Vice-President under President Thomas Jefferson. Burr heralded from an prominent family and his status is reflected in his fine clothing and cool, confident gaze. Copley paints Burr’s blue satin waistcoat and its textures with a luxurious richness that is strikingly tangible. His depiction of Burr’s handsome, shadowed face demonstrates Copley’s command of printmaking techniques to capture light and dark.
In painting shadows, Copley likely made use of his experience with a method of printmaking called mezzotint. Invented in the mid-17th century, mezzotint enabled artists to create a grey-scale effect by controlling the ink on thousands of protruding dots. Copley’s painting of shadows around Burr’s eyes, chin, and nose reproduce light as it would realistically be cast across the face.
Both sides of the banner are identical.
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| Provenance:
These banners were displayed in front of the Saint Louis Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri throughout 2008 and 2009 to promote the museum’s permanent collections. |
About the Artist:
Born to Irish immigrants, John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) became America’s first portraitist artist, painting leading figures of the Revolutionary period, most notably Paul Revere and John Hancock. Much like a photographer of record in modern times, Copley portraits captured not only a remarkable likeness to his subjects but also their character. Perhaps Copley’s greatest influence as an artist was his stepfather, Peter Pelham, a well-known engraver, with whom Copley likely trained as a youth . The impact of this early exposure to painting and printmaking is most evident in Copley’s mastery of dramatic contrasts of light and dark in his portraits.
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| Color Scheme: Cool - |
| Style: Portraiture - |
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